After being awarded a United States Coast Guard (USCG) contract award, Insitu’s ScanEagle UAS will be used to provide small UAS ISR services aboard the entire U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter fleet. Valued at approximately $117 million, the service contract covers the installation and deployment of small UAS for…
By Robbin Laird (Updated) With the all the focus on the Russian intervention in the last US presidential elections, it is useful to take a broader view of the challenge focused by the new technologies and approaches. During my recent visit to Helsinki, a visit the European Centre of Excellence…
We have written for years about the impact of the decline of the icebreaker force in the USCG on US Arctic policy. We referred to the US as the "reluctant Arctic power." In our interview with the USCG Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft we focused on the need to shift policy…
02/19/2018: "A year’s worth of planning has come to fruitition. We started off the exercise with a para accuracy event that challenged our SAR techs at hitting a marked target. We moved into Monday where we did a major air disaster exercise where a number of agencies from 8 Wing produced a scenario that really stressed…
2017-11-28 By Robbin Laird and Ed Timperlake It is clear that information system security and appropriate defenses is a very significant issue. However, shaping an effective way ahead, which both gets the job done and shapes rethinking which can lead to further progress is more difficult that simply buying a…
2017-09-25 Several years ago we visited a key USCG air base where the new Ocean Sentry patrol aircraft had just arrived for service. We have reposted that interview done in 2010 below. But fast forward to 2017, and that aircraft has now reached a flight hour milestone. In a ceremony…
09/10/17 by Robbin Laird Early on the morning of September 11th, I had an appointment in the Pentagon with a senior Pentagon official. I got there a bit early, and parked just outside the Defense Secretary's office. As I was sitting in the office, the TV was showing the story of…
2017-07-31 By Guy Martin Growing maritime threats off Africa’s coastline and new offshore oil and gas finds are driving the need for better maritime security while the drop in the oil price means securing oil and gas supplies is more important than ever as there is less margin for loss.…
